Goodman Brown (1840–1929)

Goodman Brown represented Prince George and Surry counties in the House of Delegates. He came from
a free, property-owning African American family. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Brown served in the U.S.
Navy as a cabin boy aboard the USS Maratanza. In the 1870s he
became involved in politics and later was an ally of Readjuster leader William Mahone. As chairman of the Surry County
Readjuster Committee, Brown used his relationship with Mahone to seek patronage
positions for local men. When the Readjuster Party ceased to exist, Brown followed
Mahone into the Republican
Party. Winning the party's nomination for the local House of Delegates seat
in 1887, he soundly defeated his Democratic opponent in the general election. Although he did not seek
reelection in 1889, Brown remained one of Surry County's most important African
American citizens. MORE...

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Brown was born on July 24, 1840, in Surry County, the son of Herbert Brown, a farmer,
and Parthena Bell Brown, both of whom were free African Americans. His grandfather
Scipio Brown received his freedom in 1804 from James Bell, of Surry County, and in
1809 married Amy Johnson, a free woman. Herbert Brown and his brother Benjamin Brown
both owned property in Surry County before the Civil War. Goodman Brown worked on his
father's fifty-acre farm until age nineteen and obtained some rudimentary education
in a night school.

On November 1, 1862, near Cape Fear, North Carolina, Brown enlisted in the U.S. Navy
as a cabin boy aboard the USS Maratanza. He was discharged at
Savannah, Georgia, on December 20, 1864. Brown's whereabouts immediately before and
after his Civil War naval service are not known. An unsubstantiated later account
indicates that he served in the U.S. Army. Possibly Brown worked for the army in some
civilian capacity. After the war he returned to Surry County and quickly emerged as a
community leader. When the new county agent of the Freedmen's Bureau sought to identify the most
respectable African American men in the county, local black residents provided him
with eight names in April 1867, among them Goodman Brown, his brother Bedford Brown,
and their father and uncle. Later two other members of the family, James Brown and W.
T. Brown, served as overseers of the poor in Surry County. In 1872 Brown married Mary
Todd Park (or Parke), of Richmond. A
pioneering black teacher in Surry County, she helped him continue his education. Of their
nine children, four sons and four daughters survived.

During the 1870s Brown became involved in
politics. On March 14, 1881, he attended a meeting in Petersburg at which regional
African American leaders resolved to support the Readjuster Party and its leader,
William Mahone. Brown corresponded with Mahone and in a letter dated May 14, 1883,
identified himself as chairman of the Surry County Readjuster Committee. He used his
relationship with Mahone to seek patronage positions for local men and ask that
prominent political leaders be scheduled to speak in the county. After the Readjuster
Party ceased to exist, Brown followed Mahone into the Republican Party. Several times
Brown sought the Republican nomination to the House of Delegates from the district
consisting of Prince George and Surry counties but lost to candidates from Prince
George County. In October 1887 he finally secured the nomination and despite
opposition within his own party defeated Democratic candidate John Wilson by a margin
of more than two to one. During the campaign newspapers identified Brown as a Mahone
supporter. The Democratic Party then fully controlled the assembly, and as a Mahone
Republican and an African American, Brown received the lowest-ranking appointments on
the Committee on Immigration and the inconsequential Committee on Retrenchment and
Economy. He did not seek renomination in 1889.

Brown had been acquiring land since the end of the war. By the time he entered the
assembly he owned five tracts totaling almost 226 acres, on which he raised corn and
peanuts. Brown resided in the Cobham district near Bacon's Castle. He belonged to the
Mount Nebo Baptist Church after 1875 and for four decades was one of his county's
leading African American men. Goodman Brown died of uremia in Surry County on July 4,
1929, and was buried near Bacon's Castle.

Time Line

July 24, 1840
- Goodman Brown is born in Surry County, the son of Herbert Brown and Parthena Bell Brown.

November 1, 1862
- Goodman Brown enlists in the U.S. Navy as a cabin boy aboard the USS Maratanza.

December 20, 1864
- Goodman Brown is discharged from the U.S. Navy at Savannah, Georgia.

March 14, 1881
- Goodman Brown attends a meeting in Petersburg at which regional African American leaders resolve to support the Readjuster Party and its leader, William Mahone.

May 14, 1883
- In a letter to William Mahone, Goodman Brown identifies himself as chairman of the Surry County Readjuster Committee.

October 1887
- Goodman Brown secures the Republican nomination to the House of Delegates from the district consisting of Prince George and Surry counties. He will defeat Democratic candidate John Wilson.